Hyosung Heavy Industries held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for a new high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transformer facility at its plant in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. The move is part of the company’s strategy to secure global leadership in future power grid technologies by localizing key components. The new facility will cover 29,600 square meters and is expected to be completed by July 2027. Hyosung plans to invest ₩330 billion (approximately $238.8 million) into its HVDC business over the next two years. This includes ₩254 billion for the plant itself and additional funds for expanding production of voltage-sourced converter systems — crucial elements in HVDC infrastructure. “Foreign firms have long led the voltage-sourced HVDC market,” said Vice Chairman Lee Sang-woon. “But domestic development is vital for Korea to stay competitive in power transmission and to transform HVDC into a key export sector.” HVDC technology allows more efficient long-distance power transmission with less energy loss compared to traditional HVAC systems. Hyosung’s own voltage-sourced HVDC solution, under development since 2017 with ₩100 billion invested, was successfully localized last year and is gaining global attention, particularly for its compatibility with renewable energy. Hyosung’s persistence in the sector is largely credited to Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, who continued to back the HVDC business despite losses in the 2010s. Cho maintained that HVDC was “critical” to Korea’s energy future and committed to making Hyosung a global leader. The company now plans to develop 2-gigawatt-scale HVDC transformers, and expects production capacity at the Changwon site to grow by 20% by 2028. This will help meet rising global demand in both the HVDC and HVAC markets. The global HVDC market is forecast to grow from $12.2 billion in 2024 to $26.4 billion by 2034, with an annual growth rate of over 8%. In Korea, Hyosung’s HVDC technology is also seen as key to the government’s “West Coast Energy Highway,” which aims to connect renewable energy hubs in the southwest to the Seoul metropolitan area by 2030.   (ICE SEOUL)

Fonte notizia: The Korea Times